Readings of the day: Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80:9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20; Philippians 4:6-9; Matthew 21:33-43
Here we are, back in the vineyard again.
Have we not heard this story before? All is designed by the vineyard owner to
bear abundant fruit, but somehow everything goes wrong; the vineyard produces
no fruit, or the tenants act violently toward servants sent to tend the
vineyard.
I like to think of today’s readings and
those of the two Sundays before this as a kind of Biblical wine tour. Who here
has been to a vineyard or on a wine tour, and so perhaps can relate? Over these
three Sundays, we have heard from Matthew’s Gospel three vineyard parables:
First, the owner who hires the late arrivals at the same daily wage as those
who arrived at the beginning of the work day. Second, we hear of two sons, one
who says he will not work in his father’s vineyard but later goes and the other
who agrees to work in the vineyard but then does not go.
Today Matthew takes us to our third stop
on our vineyard tour. Imagine our delight at how the owner of this vineyard has
done everything necessary to ensure a fruitful harvest. The “landowner” has
“planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it,” to protect it from the weather,
“dug a wine press in it” to collect and process the grapes at harvest time,
“and built a tower” for security.
Despite the vineyard owner’s care for
his vines and for those who work for him, when he goes “on a journey” everything
goes wrong. The tenants to whom the vineyard owner has rented the vineyard beat
and kill the servants sent to work in the vineyard. They even kill the
landlord’s own son, so deep is the wickedness of these tenants.
Jesus’ vineyard parable is like the
other vineyard story we hear today from the prophet Isaiah: The vineyard owner
in Isaiah’s prophetic love song, God, has done everything to ensure a fruitful
harvest, but somehow the vineyard, an image of God’s beloved people Israel,
yields only “wild grapes.” But the vineyard in Matthew’s Gospel, unlike the
vineyard in Isaiah, has borne fruit.
In Jesus’ parable the harvesters; the tenants act violently and unjustly and so
fail to make the most of the bountiful harvest of the vineyard. They fail to
return to the vineyard owner what is his due from the harvest. In fact, the
tenants kill the landowner’s own son!
We know who or what represents whom in
Jesus’ parable: As in Isaiah, the landlord, who has done everything to ensure a
fruitful harvest in his vineyard, is God. The vineyard is the kingdom of God
whose bountiful yield is ready for harvest. The tenants are the religious
leaders of Jesus’ time who oppose the coming to full fruition of the kingdom of
God. (Let us avoid an anti-Jewish interpretation of this parable; after all
today’s parable was originally the teaching of a Jew, Jesus, directed at Jews,
the “chief priests and elders.”) The “servants” beaten, killed, and stoned by
the tenants are the prophets who had prepared the way for God’s own Son; the
son whom the tenants kill in the parable, Jesus himself.
But do we really know who or what represents whom in this parable of the
wicked tenants? This parable would be tragic enough if we were mere tourists;
if we were simply passers-by on our vineyard tour through Matthew’s Gospel. But
we are not mere tourists. We are directly involved in this vineyard parable as
it takes place in our own time. Are we the prophetic servants of the Lord of
the vineyard, unafraid to speak the truth; to speak for justice and against all
forms of violence in our homes, in our communities, and in our world; to speak and
act to build God’s kingdom; to reap the harvest of God’s vineyard even at the
risk of unpopularity, even hostility against the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Or are
we sometimes the tenants who have held back the bounty of the harvest; have
held back the kingdom of God from fruition out of weakness; out of selfishness;
out of sin? In our consciences we know our answers to these questions. We know
where we stand before God.
When I say that we are not merely
tourists; that we are directly involved in this vineyard parable of our own
time, I do not wish to discourage us. On the one hand, we cannot deny the
presence of sin in our world. Sin affects us all, both as individuals and as a
society. We need look no farther than our news on television and on paper:
Violence in our streets and even in many homes (I speak not only of domestic
violence perpetrated by some professional sports figures, although this has
received a lot of media attention lately); family and marital discord… A week
ago, I celebrated Mass with the people of the House of Mercy. Sadly, poverty,
homelessness, abandonment of people with mental and physical disabilities, and
racial inequalities continue, even in our city. The power of sin; the example
of the wicked tenants in the vineyard is ever-present in our world.
On the other hand (this is why I invite
us not to be discouraged), despite this ever-present sin in our world, God perseveres
with us; does not give up on us. We are, imperfectly but nevertheless, the
people to whom God has entrusted the vineyard “to produce its fruit.” Sinners
though we are, God has turned even the tragedy of our sin into victory; into
the very source of our redemption. The Cross of Christ, the Son who entered the
vineyard only to be killed by the wicked tenants, is our salvation.
We are not mere tourists; we are
directly involved in the death of Christ for our sin. But at the same time we
are not mere tourists; we are also directly involved in our redemption; our
salvation; the building up of God’s kingdom here on earth. God’s response to
our sin is perseverance; strength; more mercy; more grace. God’s response is to
encourage us to persevere with one another; to love one another; to treat one
another with God’s own mercy and grace.
God is the vineyard owner who has done;
who will do everything to ensure a fruitful harvest. God continues to give us,
in St. Paul’s words to the Philippians in our second reading, “whatever is
true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is
lovely, whatever is gracious”; whatever nourishment the vineyard needs to bear
maximum fruit.
Here we are, back in
the vineyard again, only not as mere tourists now but as the new tenants
entrusted by God to “produce” the vineyard’s “fruit.” To ensure the vineyard
remains fruitful, we will require God-like perseverance. We will need God-like
strength not to give up on others or ourselves in the face of our weakness; our
sin. We will need the support of one another as Church. We will need and we
have God’s mercy; God’s grace; everything to ensure a fruitful harvest in this
vineyard; this kingdom of God we have been entrusted to tend; to nourish; to
grow.
